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8 Yoga Poses for Beginners

8 Yoga Poses for Beginners

There are many great reasons to add yoga to your exercise routine. Yoga improves muscle tone, flexibility, and balance, and it helps you relax and reduce stress, thanks to its signature pranayama breathing (which just means steadily inhaling and exhaling through your nose). Some studies have even found that yoga can reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and chronic pain better than traditional therapy alone.

Ready to give it a try? Here are eight beginner poses — called "asanas" — recommended by yoga instructors.

Easy Cross Leg (Sukhasana) for Stress Relief

Sit cross-legged on a yoga mat with your hand on your knees, palms up. Keep your spine as straight as you can. Push the bones you're sitting on down into the floor — your "sit bones" in yoga-speak. Close your eyes and inhale. "This is a great pose for beginners to use as an assessment," says Gwen Lawrence, yoga coach for the New York Giants and other sports teams and celebrities. "Just sitting on the floor gives you a perfect way to see and feel the external rotation on the legs." This pose also boosts back flexibility and can help relieve stress.

Cat-Cow Pose for Back Pain

Get on your mat on all fours with your hands directly below your shoulders and your knees directly below your hips. Distribute your weight equally between your hands and spread your fingers wide. Inhale and round your back, arching it up as you lower your chin to your chest; feel the stretch from your neck to your tailbone, like a cat. As you exhale, lower your back down all the way to a scoop shape as you lift your head, and tilt it back. "Repeat a few times to loosen your spine and open your chest," says Susie Lopez, New York yoga and wellness educator.

Tree Pose for Balance

Start by standing straight for this pose. Bring your hands together in the prayer position and lift them over your head. Balance on your right leg. Bend your left knee out to the left side and press your left foot to the inner thigh of your right leg. Hold for 30 seconds. Switch legs and repeat. "This pose helps to stretch the body long, from the heels to the tips of your fingers," says fitness trainer and wellness coach Shea Vaughn, author of Breakthrough: The 5 Living Principles to Defeat Stress, Look Great, and Find Total Well-Being (and mom of actor Vince Vaughn). It will also help you gain improved balance and flexibility.

Downward-Facing Dog for Flexibility

In the downward-facing dog, your body forms an inverted V-shape. Start by placing both hands on the mat in front of you, palms down. Your hands should be slightly in front of your shoulders. Place your knees on the ground directly under your hips. Exhale as you lift your knees off the ground and lift your buttocks and hips toward the ceiling. Push the top of your thighs back and stretch your heels down toward the floor. Keep your head down between your upper arms and in line with them, not hanging down. Look at your belly. "The important thing is to create a long straight spine," Lopez says. Hold the position for 5 to 10 breaths, and try to deepen your stretch with each exhalation.

Child's Pose for Relaxation

This is among the most healing of all yoga poses, Lopez says, reminiscent of the fetal position. Anytime you feel overwhelmed or tired, relax into child's pose, she says. From downward-facing dog, simply bend your knees and lower your butt to your heels as you bring your chest toward the floor over your knees. Lower your shoulders and head to the floor. Place your arms along your sides, palms up, or you can support your head by folding your arms under your forehead. Breathe and relax for as long as you need to. This pose is also good for stretching out your back, says Jane Foody, New York area yoga instructor, yoga teacher trainer, and author of Guided Relaxation and Savasana Scripts for Yoga Teachers.

Baby Pigeon Pose for Hip Flexibility

From all fours, move your right knee forward between your hands. As though you were doing a lunge, slowly straighten your left leg behind you, keeping the knee and top of the foot on the floor. Now rotate the right knee toward the right wrist and bring it down to the floor with your right calf flat on the floor and your right foot resting under your left groin. Lower your upper body over the bent leg, either all the way to the floor or resting on your elbows. Slowly inhale and exhale five times. Before you change sides, push back on your left leg to stretch the calf muscles. Repeat with your left leg bent and right leg extended. This pose is a favorite for runners because it boosts hip flexibility and also releases the glutes and low back, Lawrence says. "If you run, lift weights, cross fit, or spin, you must do this stretch to keep strong and flexible and enhance your performance." It may be challenging at first, but you'll learn to love this pose, Lawrence promises.

Standing Mountain Pose for Relaxation

This pose is pure simplicity, Lawrence says. Stand still, with your chest open and broad and your hands at your side, and feel your feet on the floor and the sensations in your legs and back. Then, analyze your posture in front of a mirror. Lawrence makes her athletes hold long pencils in each hand as they stand. "I tell them to look down at the pencils and, like a compass, see how they point. Are they the same? Does one point straight and the other point to three on the clock?" This pose will show if you have any imbalances in your shoulders and gives you clues about what you need to work on. If one pencil is very turned in, so is your shoulder.

Legs Up the Wall (Viparita Karani) for Restoration

This is a great ending pose for beginners and those experienced at yoga alike. Lie on the floor with your butt right up against a wall. "Walk" your legs straight up the wall so that your body is in an L shape with your torso flat on the floor and perpendicular to the wall. You may want to place a rolled-up blanket under your lower back for support; keep your elbows out to the sides on the floor for additional support. Flex toes to feel a stretch in the backs of your legs. Breathe deeply and hold the position for as long as you like. To release, bring your knees to your chest and roll over to your side. Benefit of this yoga pose: It revitalizes tired legs and puts renewed pep in your step, Lawrence says.

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